We can't be together
by case1234
Summary: The thing is Finn it isn't about me anymore, I've got a little boy now and so everything is about him. I don't want to hurt him and you would eventually hurt him. I love my son and he's my life now and that means my heart belongs to him.


"Brody Berry get your cute little butt over here!" A twenty four year old Rachel ordered her four-year-old son.

Brody was an adorable little boy, with dark hair and freckles traveling along his cheekbones and the brightest blue eyes anyone had ever seen. Though the young woman had not planned to have a baby when she was twenty years old, she could not imagine her life without this little boy.

"Mommy I'm coming but I had to tell Leonardo goodbye." The little boy mumbled as he zoomed down the hallway with his Spiderman sneakers.

The young brunette rolled her eyes and began to tie her young son's shoes. "That silly turtle he always takes so long saying goodbye doesn't he?" She asked patting the little boys nose and pulling him up to assist with putting on his rain jacket.

"I love you mommy!" The little boy exclaimed happily as he threw his arms around his mother's legs.

Bending down and kissing the little boy's cheek Rachel felt true warmth in her heart. "Mommy loves you too baby. Now are you excited to go to Daddy's house for the night."

"I am super excited Mommy cause Daddy said we could play baseball." The little boy squealed in delight and clapped happily.

Waking out of the house and closing the white picket fence Rachel smiled happily. The house she had given to her by fathers was nothing special and she had made into one of the most beautiful homes in Lima in just a few short months.

Finally strapping her little boy into his car seat and pulling out of the driveway Rachel made a quick phone call to her boyfriend.

"Hi Honey how are you?" The man asked sweetly.

"Baby I'm good just getting ready to drop my little man off with his daddy." Rachel explained as she turned onto the street where her son's father lived.

"Are we still going to that picnic at Quinn's house tonight honey?" The man asked, not waiting to see his beautiful girlfriend.

"Yes babe we are, I'll meet you there at seven alright." She said with her hands full as she tried to carry her son and talk on the phone at the same time.

"Okay baby love you…bye."

Little Brody Berry looked into his mother's eyes, "Mommy do you have a date with Tony?" He asked in his cute little voice.

"Yes baby I do and we're going to go to Auntie Quinn's for a little party." She explained as she gently set her son on his feet and motioned for him to ring the bell.

"Mommy why can't I come?" Brody asked softly as the front door began to open and reveal a tall, handsome young man."

Rachel smiled brightly and pulled the man into a hug, before turning back to her son and kneeling down to his son's eye level. "Baby you're going to be with Daddy and have lots and lots of fun okay." She told him kissing his cheek.

"So Brodster are you so excited to have a super fun time this weekend." Randy asked his son as he smiled brightly.

Brody giggled slightly at his goofball of a father before clapping his hands and squealing excitedly. "We're gonna have lots and lots of fun Daddy!"

Rachel smiled at two of her very favorite boys. "Alright Randy if you need anything call okay? I'll have my cell and so will Tony and you know Quinn's number so you'll be able to get a hold of me."

"Rach this isn't my first time at the dance you know. Brody and I will be fine okay?" The blond smirked as he interrupted the infamous Berry rant.

"Okay, Okay I'm leaving just take good care of my baby boy."

"I will don't worry babe." The blond reassured as he tickled his son's stomach. "Have fun this weekend okay and don't worry about a thing."

Leaving Randy's house Rachel couldn't help but flash back to everything that had happened nearly five plus years ago.

"_Kurt where's Finn?" An eighteen-year-old Rachel asked as she steeped onto the front porch of the Hummel-Hudson abode. _

_Kurt looked at his best friend with tears in his eyes knowing that she was about to have her fragile heart broken. "Honey sit down." He ordered gently pulling the petite body to sit next to him on the porch swing. Taking a deep breath the pale boy leaned down and_ _pressed a_ _soft kiss to the brunette's head. "I don't know how to tell you this but apparently Finn is gone."_

"_Gone, gone what do you mean Kurt?" Rachel asked as she felt her heart race and her hands sweat._

"_He left a note Rach, he said he couldn't stay in Lima that he could not die here. He was gone this morning apparently to Texas, he took that football scholarship."_

_Rachel felt black spots form in front of her eyes and she honestly thought she would collapse onto the floor and never move again. "But I gave up New York for him Kurt!" The girl whined pitifully as she got to her feet and pulled her bag onto her shoulder._

"_Rachel don't leave like this!" Kurt pleaded terrified that his friend would get into a terrible accident while not thinking clearly. Running and taking onto her hand Kurt begged, "Please sweetie just sit here and take a few minutes to collect yourself."_

_Pulling herself out of her friend's grasp Rachel turned and ran to her car hoping to just drive off all of the hurt that she had just experienced. The horrible thing about the whole situation was that the young woman had given up going to NYU to attend OSU with the boy she loved and he had left her because he didn't want to stay? The whole situation had made no sense to her and she had felt her heart literally collapse._

_The next few months flied quickly and Rachel became a shell of herself, only with the help of her trusty old glee club had Rachel finally been able to become herself again._

_Rachel was having a terrible day when she went to the party at OSU in her sophomore year; she felt bad and drank too much, those never being a good thing. Randy had been there, he too in a bad place when he found out the girl he loved had been cheating on him. Rachel and Randy had been good friends, starring opposite each other in the production of Oklahoma, and they regrettably had sex that night. _

_Two months later Rachel faced the incredible truth that she was pregnant. Pregnant and nineteen was not what she had ever dreamed of but it was the reality and the brunette would never have dreamed of aborting the living thing inside of her._

"_Randy I'm sorry but I-I…I'm pregnant." Rachel cried as she hugged onto her friend desperately._

_The blond haired boy blinked a few times before the tears fell from his eyes to match his friend's. "We'll make it work Rach." He whispered over and over as he tried to soothe the distraught girl desperately. "I know that this isn't the best situation Rach, but we'll both be_ _amazing parents."_

Breaking out of her thoughts Rachel pulled into the Puckerman residence to assist Quinn with the barbeque.

"Hey Rach!" Puck greeted as he smiled at his tiny friend and pulled her into a tight hug. "How are you shorty?"

"I'm great how are you guys?" Rachel asked sweetly as she pulled off her shoes and followed the changed young man into the kitchen where the beautiful blond was sitting.

Puck ruffled the brunette hair gently and sat down at the table next to his wife. "We're dong just fine. I can't stand it any longer Rach thought we have something to tell you." Quinn shot her husband a glare and grabbed Rachel's hand as she urged her husband to rip off the Band-Aid quickly. "Finn's back in town and he'll be attending the barbeque with Kurt and Blaine."

Rachel felt herself pale as she heard that she would have to face the man who had left her six years ago. "Well I'll just ignore him then, I'm sure he doesn't want to see me anyways."

Quinn looked thoughtfully to her long time friend and pulled her into her arms. "Oh Rach," She whispered knowing just how much pain her friend was in "I feel so terrible."

Rachel looked away, not wanting her friends to know the true hurt she felt. In all honesty the young girl never wanted to see Finn Hudson again, as long as she lived, if only because she still loved him and would take him back in a millisecond.

"I don't think I should be here tonight." Rachel told her friends, looking at the couple with wide eyes.

Quinn sighed deeply and smoothed down her friends dark tresses. "Rach we will call Kurt and tell him that Finn can't come down with him if that's what you want."

"Yeah my little Jew princess I don't really want that douche here anyways. We don't here from that prick in more than five years and he thinks he can just come shuffling back into our lives."

"I think I'm going to go home." Rachel told the pair as she stood from her chair and smoothed out her baby blue sundress. "I need to rest. I feel extremely exhausted suddenly."

"Why don't you sleep in the guest room? "Puck asked and picked her up bridal style to insist that she in fact slept so they could keep a watchful eye on the young mother. "Don't even try arguing you're staying." He told her as he placed her in the warm double bed and Quinn pulled the covers to her chin.

"We love you Rach." Quinn whispered placing a soft kiss to her friend's head as Puck did the same.

* * *

><p>"Kurt why are you so mad at me?" Finn asked as his brother practically growled when he walked into the room.<p>

Kurt was astonished; his brother didn't know why he was so angry with him. "You broke her heart Finn, she nearly lost her sanity." The fashonista hissed, finally letting go of the anger he had been holding onto. "I won't allow you to ruin her again Finn, She's in a good place."

The tall young man looked down at I feet, refusing to make eye contact with his younger brother. "I still love her Kurt. I know that I ruined her college plans, but something snapped inside of me and I needed to get away. I didn't want to stay here and be unhappy Kurt, I just couldn't do that."

"So instead you let Rachel stay in the town she wanted out of more than anything and left her without even a goodbye." Kurt shouted as he shoved his finger into the tall man's face. "You killed her Finn. You fucking raped her of happiness and self worthiness and so no I cannot fucking forgive you for that."

Finn knew that Kurt was right he had taken so much from Rachel and in his heart he knew he was wrong, that he was still so very wrong.

* * *

><p>"Rachel!" Brittany squealed as she saw her friend sitting in the back yard, nursing a wine cooler. The tall blond quickly went to her petite friend and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm going to tell Finn that he's a stupid idiotic moronic pig!" Brittany reassured as she patted Rachel's brunette curls. "Why are you laughing Rach?" She asked when she heard the brunette's giggle. "Did I say the wrong thing because that's what Artie told me to say."<p>

"Oh sweetie you said absolutely the right thing." Rachel assured as she kissed her friends head. "Thanks for making me feel better Britt-Britt."

Artie was the second person to greet his friend and pull her into a hug. "She wanted to say something, so I told her how I felt about everything." He whispered in her ear as he hugged her softly. "I'll roll over his toes Rachie-pie."

"Listen up everybody!" Rachel demanded as she looked at all of her old glee club friends and many of their parents. "I want everyone to act normally towards Finn, and that means no pushing, and no tripping."

"But Rach..." Mike whined crossing his arms over his chest.

"Okay guys look their coming just act normally for me please." The club couldn't go against their friend's wishes when she begged with those wide eyes of hers, and so they agreed.

Finn looked carefully at his friend's faces, everyone looked the same and if he did not know better he would've sworn they were still seniors in high school; but they weren't kids anymore and this time they all hated him.

"Finn so nice of you to join us." Quinn hissed as she squeezed his arm painfully.

"Hey guys long time no see." Finn said dopily, not knowing what else to say in the awkward silence.

Sam glared at the tall man and quickly hissed "Finn let's go over this way and have a chat shall we?"

Nodding dumbly Finn followed Artie , Mike, Sam, and Puck knowing what the men were going to say to him.

"Finn what the hell were you thinking coming back here after all of these years!" Puck shouted as the four men made their way to the front yard. "Rachel is in a good place right now and you aren't messing this up.

"I made a mistake!" Finn shouted back trying to get his old friends to understand. "I came back hoping that Rachel would give me a second chance and I know she probably won't but I needed to try."

"Finn you're too late." Artie told the man seriously. Artie was mad as hell at Finn but wouldn't turn his back on him after all they had been through together, he just couldn't.

Finn looked crestfallen and he felt like he could burst into tears at any moment and just curl into the fucking fetal position. "What is she seeing someone?"

Sam felt a little bad now that he saw the state the old quarter back was in. "She's seeing someone." He didn't think Finn should know that Rachel was a mother, she should be the one to tell him that.

"Listen Finn I just think you should stay clear when you're here okay." Mike told him placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm here to stay I asked for a transfer into the Lima fire department." Finn explained letting the men know that he was not leaving anytime soon.

"So you're the new guy." Puck asked looking slightly angry that he would have to spend nearly seventy-two hours with his ex-best friend a week.

"Puck!" Quinn came over screaming as tears slid down her pale cheeks. "We need to get to the hospital!" She screeched as she launched herself into her husband's arms.

"What's happened baby?" He asked trying to soothe his wife while also trying to calm himself down.

Quinn wiped her eyes on Puck's checkered shirt and pulled away to look at him. "Randy and Brody were in a car accident and Rachel's a freaking mess."

All of the men looked at each other and raced off to find their friend who was probably in hysterics over receiving the news of her son.

Finn followed the others concerned that something terrible had happened and when he saw the woman he loved his heart nearly ripped in two. Rachel was crying as Kurt rubbed her back gently and whispered into her ear as he too cried. Finn didn't know what was wrong but he expected that someone very close to her had been hurt in the accident. "I need to get to the hospital!" Rachel stuttered out and reached into her pocket to grab her car keys.

"No sweetie you can't drive in this state." Mercedes gently told her friend as she removed the girls keys from her hand and wrapped her in an embrace. "Come on I'll drive."

"We're all coming!" Tina told them as she also wrapped her arms around the shaking and sobbing brunette.

"What the hell is going on Kurt?" Finn asked as he sat in the backseat with Kurt and Blaine upfront. "What's happened and why are we going to the hospital.

Blaine turned around and looked Finn directly in the eyes. "Rachel's son and his father have been in an accident and Rachel doesn't know any more than that."

Finn's head spun painfully as he learned the truth that Rachel had moved on, she even had a child.

* * *

><p>"I need to find my son he's five years old." Rachel quickly spat out at the emergency room desk. "Brody Berry."<p>

The woman smiled sympathetically and gently squeezed the brunettes thin hand. "Your son is alright and so is your husband. The little guy has a concussion because his head hit the window but other than that he's just fine. The husband is just fine too, just a broken leg and some bruising."

Rachel felt a great weight be lifted off of her chest as she heard that her little man and best friend were in fact okay. "Thank you so much where are they."

Following the directions the woman had gave, Rachel and her trustworthy glee club went on their way to find the little boy and man that meant so much to them.

"Mommy!" Brody cried as he saw his mother.

Rachel quickly ran to her little boy and scooped him up and into her arms sitting down with him on the small EE cot. "Sweetie pie how do you feel?" She asked noticing the bandage strapped to his arm and the IV in his left arm.  
>"I feel good Mommy." He told her his eyes taking on a glassy look from the pain medication. "They took daddy to get pictures of his insides."<p>

Smiling at the little boy Quinn gave him a kiss on the head and cheek. "I'm glad you're okay baby." She told him sweetly as she patted Rachel's shoulder and wiped away the stray tears.

"Rach why don't you go get a coffee and we'll stay here with the little man and wait for Randy."

"I couldn't…"

Blaine quickly cut his friend off "You can and you will. Rach you've been through a lot in the last half hour so go get a coffee and relax the kid can feel your tension."

Sighing the young mother kissed her son's nose telling him she would be back momentarily and left the room.

"Rach?" She heard the familiar voice and footsteps trailing after her as she quickly walked down the emergency room corridor. "Rach how's your son?"

The brunette turned on her heel and looked into the smoldering eyes of her previous lover. " He's fine besides a mild concussion Finn." She told him as she turned back around and began to walk away.

"Rachel please talk to me I need to apologize."

Rachel could feel the anger rising in her throat and she could no longer bury the pain she felt deep inside of her. "What is there to say Finn? You found a new dream and a new life and I'm not allowed to remember? You broke my heart Finn. You broke my fucking heart and you didn't even do it yourself , you had Kurt of all people tell me that you were never coming back. Do you think it's easy for me to look at you and know that you didn't love me?" Rachel asked with every word stepping closer to Finn. "I can't do this with you Finn. I can't have you around me without feeling pain and betrayal. I love you Finn not loved. I still love you so much and I can never have you."

Finn looked at the woman and saw the same eighteen year old girl he had left behind. "Rachel we can be together again. I swear I've changed."

Rachel sighed pinching the bridge of her nose tightly. "The thing is Finn it isn't about me anymore, I've got a little boy now and so everything is about him. I don't want to hurt him and you would eventually hurt him. I love my son and he's my life now and that means my heart belongs to him." She replied shakily as she continued her trail down the hallway. "Oh and Finn?" She asked turning around and looking into the chocolate eyes "There is someone else and I love him."

That was it and Finn knew it, he knew he should give up. The thing was he wanted Rachel back and nothing would stand in his way.

* * *

><p>"Rachel, sweetheart, we want you to come home with Daddy and I tonight. I just want to watch over Brody and Randy and make sure they're okay." Hiram Berry told his daughter sweetly as he sat across from her in the hospital cafeteria.<p>

Feeling all of the stresses from the day finally set in Rachel Berry burst into tears. There had just been too much going on for her to take a minute to breathe and she was feeling completely overwhelmed. She was extremely grateful that her Dad was with her because he was always so calm in these situations. The man simply went to the vending machine and grabbed her a water bottle and squeezed her hand, letting the poor woman have a minute to release the emotions she had bottled inside.

"Feel better Star?" Hiram asked when the final sobs had come and gone and Rachel sat wiping the tears from her face.

"Thank you for letting me have a moment Dad. I really needed it."

"Oh sweetie you don't have to explain anything to me. I know that this has been an extremely hard day for you and you've been strong. Now what do you say to letting Daddy and I take care of you and our favorite grandson? We can get some takeout and put on Funny girl?"

"I'd really love that dad but I don't want to cause any extra burden on you guys."

Hiram bit back a laugh as he looked at his naïve little girl. "Princess you could never be a burden on us. The two of us love you more than anything in this world and we are so proud of you angel, so so so proud."

Feeling the tears starting to overfill for the second time in less than ten minutes the girl finally took a sip of the water bottle, letting it calm her like it always had. "I love you too Dad and thank you for supporting me."

"Oh honey come on let's go get our boy."

"Mommy why are we all going to Grandpas' house?" Brody asked from his car seat in the back of Leroy's car.

"Because Grandpa is a doctor so he's going to look after you and Daddy tonight because Mommy isn't feeling so well." Rachel explained sweetly as she ruffled his hair.

"Thank you for allowing me to stay Leroy, Hiram." Randy thanked gratefully from his place in the backseat. "I can't believe that kid was texting while driving. I am just so grateful I listened when you said Brody was too young for a booster seat Rach or we'd be in a completely different situation right now."

"At this rate I think Brody's going to be in his car seat until he's seventeen." Hiram joked lightly, trying to get his daughter to crack a slight grin.

"This is very true Daddy." Rachel told her father as she looked into her son's ocean blue eyes not knowing what she would do if they were ever gone from her world.

"Baby!" Tony cooed as he wrapped his arms around his petite girlfriend's body. "I am so sorry I went over to Quinn's and everyone was gone and I just sat there and Quinn told me what happened are you okay?"

Rachel knew this man was kind and good for her but yet she felt no spark , no fireworks and yet he was the one holding her hand and bringing stuffed bears for her child. "I love you!" She whispered looking into the man's green eyes, "I mean just thank you so much for coming and caring and…"

Tony stopped the rant as he placed a gentle hand over his girlfriend's mouth. "Rachel I love you, both of you and I will never not be here ." He assured pulling the beautiful woman into a sweet lingering kiss.

"Now I've got a get well Bear for Brody where is he?"

"In the living room watching Bolt for the fiftieth time." Rachel told him as she took the tan hand and pulled him into the living room.

"Hi Tony!" Brody squealed excitedly as he waved frantically.

"Hi buddy, Hey Randy. Brody I came to bring you over boo boo bear. He's super cold so if your head hurts you can put him on there."

"Thank you." Randy, Rachel, and Brody all answered at the same time. "It really feels better!" The little boy said in awe as he placed the cold bear on his head. "This is the bestedest present ever." The young man smiled happily and patted the little boys knee.

"I just came to make sure everybody was alright." Tony explained and leaned down to kiss his girlfriend's cheek. "I should probably get going baby but if you need anything you know where I'll be."

Smiling gratefully Rachel began to realize just what a great man she had found and couldn't believe that he cared so much for her son and herself, unlike Finn. Finn, how did he even get dragged into this conversation? The young tired mother asked herself. It didn't matter and Finn Hudson certainly did not matter, all that mattered was the present and that didn't include her high school sweetheart any longer. "Thank you Tony. I really appreciate your concern and the bear you brought for my little boy.

"I love you Rach. Forever." The young mother cringed at the words she had heard many years ago from the man who had returned days ago.


End file.
